With prices remaining high in Nigeria’ s telecom sector, the government hopes that by offeringa number of new licenses to mobile operators will help bring down prices and increase services to customers. According to a report in ComputerWorld, analysts believe the government is looking to reduce costs by opening bids for new licenses.
The country’ s regulator said on Wednesday that it may issue new telecom licenses inorder to “spur more competition” in the market.
As the continent’ s largest telecom market by investment and subscription, the overall cost of mobile communications has remained on the high side, but operators, the regulator said, are not competitive enough to spark a price war to reduce the costs.
With over 7 operators currently in the country, analysts believe the move by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) could bolster the already present companies toward a reduction of rates and better services.
“ We have become extremely stagnant in terms of services and this has led to a failure to reduce prices for users, who are increasingly becoming angry, so my guess is that the NCC is attempting to get companies to move quicker on reducing prices,” said one telecom executive who asked to remain anonymous.
“Due to lack of competition, most of Nigeria’s remote rural areas still remain unconnected to mobile communication networks,” the NCC said in a statement recently.
By Staff
Comments are closed.